Monday 08 June

The Choshi Electric Railway is a short (6.4km) branch line on the Pacific Coast. It has become famous in Japan because of its struggles to survive, at one point it closed and the tracks were lifted. The railway company gets more income from making and selling a local speciality nure senbai (wet rice cracker) than it does from running trains. Unlike most rice crackers these are soaked in soy sauce making them softer and more flavoursome than the dry ones. I really liked them.

Not the best weather today as we boarded the little train in the rain. I was rather concerned as we had received a tsunami warning this morning due to a big earthquake in the Philippines – perhaps not the best day to visit a coastal branch line.

We were welcomed by the railway’s president, and had a look round their tiny depot.

Next to the depot is a large soy sauce factory (brewery?) where their old diesel loco is on display.

They also have a tiny museum attached to their cafe/shop.

Next, a ride on the scenic line.

At the far end at Tokawa we found another old train.

A classic rural station.

(Nothing seemed to come of the tsunami.)

Tuesday 09 June

Off to Goi today, to the Kominato Railway, a very rural line where most trains are formed of single railbuses.

At Yoro Keikou most trains terminate, and we had to wait for one that carried on to the terminus. We went for a scenic stroll.

There was some doubt as to whether we would get a ride to the end of the line. The timetable poster was handwritten in japanese, Google Translate managed to work out that our train only runs on certain days, but I couldn’t find out what those days were. Happily the train turned up and soon took us to Kazusa-nakano.

This used to be a connection with another railway (you can see their platform on the left in the above picture.) which ran down to the Pacific coast, but that is no longer in operation.

For the return journey I sat at the front to enjoy the rural railway.

Back at Goi we visited the railway’s depot.

Kominato Railway also have a diesel powered loco shaped like a steam engine for tourist trains at the weekend, but I didn’t manage to get a photo.

On the way home I spotted some freight locos and snapped quick pictures from the moving train. First an EH-200 twin-unit, and then an EF-210 BoBoBo loco. We had seen many of the latter on our travels.

This evening’s beer was provided by Kankiku Brewery’s Tap Room 99.

Here I enjoyed their stout and an IPA. I was intrigued to see that the last tap on the bar back was for their own sake.

If anyone is wondering how a foreigner with no language skills can manage in a bar like this, here’s a shot of the beer menu, which contains all I need to know!

Wednesday 10 June

We started with three different local trains, and a chance to photograph some different types passing.

We were heading to a less-visited destination, the The Museum of Industrial Technology at the Nippon Institute of Technology.

Outside was a tram.

Here we found a fascinating collection of machine tools ancient and modern; and other things.

You can’t have a technical museum without a Teletype ASR-33.

In a separate building is their steam engine, which is occasionally operational.

Next, couple more short train rides, ending on the rubber tyred “New Shuttle”.

And in to the Railway Museum at Saitama. Another fantastic museum filled with trains and other exhibits. Here’s just a small selection.

Thursday 11 June

How about something other than railways? I always like to go up a tower when I visit a city, but my plans to do so on the first day here were thwarted by the bad weather, so let’s head to the Tokyo Skytree.

The views from the top didn’t disappoint.

Obviously I had to tick the bar at the 350m level, where I had a rather fine black beer which had no western characters on the label. Google Translate tells me it is brewed by Asahi (Aren’t they all?) and is called Black Student.

Back to trains, and two more railway museums, beginning with the one at Tobu.

Next, on to the Metro Museum.

The first metro in the Orient opened in Tokyo between Asakusa and Ueno in 1927. This was one of the first cars.

Part of a modern tunnel boring machine.

Beer tonight was at Jef United Pub. It took me ages to find because while I knew it was in the Chiba station complex, I didn’t realise it was inside the barriers!

Friday 12 June

I headed to Kamakura, a coastal town famous for its beaches and temples. I was somewhat startled to find it was completely packed with holidaymakers eating green ice cream and the like.

I beat a hasty retreat to a temple garden which was a lot less frantic.

I was about to leave when I spotted Craft Beer House Ege.

… where I could enjoy a pint of Your Krush from Kankiku Brewery in peace and quiet. That’s the same brewery as Tuesday evening’s tap.

The Enoshima Electric Railway runs from here along the coast, although I must say my enjoyment of the journey was somewhat marred by the fact that everyone else in the town wanted to go for a ride as well.

I rode to Enoshima where things were a lot calmer.

The line features some street running here.

Time for another danglebahn. This one is a single track with passing loops and features a number of steep climbs and descents, and some tunnels.

Tonight’s beer was in Craft Beer Bar Ibrew Ginza.

I had a tasty Hopmaster Cold IPA followed by Maple Banger, a 12.5% imperial stout from Estonia which I must say was wonderful.

Saturday 13 June

Multiple modes of transport today, starting with the metro to Shimbashi, where I could photograph a variety of passing trains while I waited for my connection.

On to Odawara, where I changed to the Hakone-Tozan Railway, initially to Hakone-yumoto where there is a change of gauge, and then on to Gora. The second section is a proper mountain railway with steep gradients, sharp curves and three switchbacks. Sorry, I didn’t get any decent pictures.

Next, a funicular.

Finally, a cablecar.

My final destination was the volcanic valley of Owakudani (literal translation Great Boiling Valley)

Owakudani is famous for its “black eggs”, hard boiled eggs cooked in the sulphurous volcanic gases, so I had to try some. To be honest, the inside looked and tasted just like any hard boiled egg.

Back down the mountain the same way as I came up and then back to Tokyo where my next destination was Akihabara Electric Town. What a strange place, it’s an area of Tokyo filled with bars, nightclubs and, most interesting to me, electronics shops.

This is the place to buy ham radio gear.

Need a switch? Or a transformer? There are shops specialising in these!

By a great effort of willpower I managed to avoid spending any money on useful bits (and I resisted the hostess bars as well.)

Final call of the day was Hitachino Nest Beer, located in Tokyo station, for a tasty glass of Nipponia.

Sunday 14 June

I started today’s travels from the subway station conveniently located right by my hotel. A classic example of a metro station with no surface buildings, just a lot of entrances like this.

Time for a different one of my interests, I headed to the NHK Museum of Broadcasting, where a fascinating range of exhibits are on show.

I joined a Japanese family to watch TV!

Brrr.

Continuing the broadcasting theme, how about a visit to Tokyo Tower, which is nearby?

Another opportunity to go high up for some great views.

There’s the Skytree in the hazy distance.

My next objective was the Imperial Palace Gardens. Here I hit a slight snag: Having purchased a souvenir bottle of Tokyo Tower Golden Honey Ale I was refused entry to the gardens as alcohol is not permitted. Undaunted, I found a seat nearby and swigged my beer.

So, in to the gardens at the second attempt! A very pleasant stroll around

Time for a drink, I think, and so to Shimbashi. Yona Yona Beer Works is a small chain of craft beer outlets, and my researches showed they might even have real ale.

Quite a wide choice of beers, but sadly the handpumps were not in use.

I had a fruity “Hazy IPA” and then “Beer Craft Saurus Black IPA”, both very tasty.

Good grief! A whole day without any railway destinations. Whatever next! Of course, I did ride on about five trains to get me where I was going, so the day was far from train free.

Monday 15 June

My last day in Japan. I started by heading for the intriguing Yurikamome line. This turned out to be a rubber-tyred system, driverless so I was able to sit at the front of the train and enjoy the ride through tower blocks and docks.

What makes this line unusual is that it features a spiral. As it climbs on to the rainbow bridge the line turns through 270 degrees. Not very easy to photograph from the train but in this picture you can see our future route passing overhead.

Next, a ride on the Ginza Line of the metro, which we learned a few days ago was the first such line in the Orient. Here’s a couple of pictures at Ueno.

At Shibuya is the famous pedestrian crossing that you see on the TV every time they talk about how busy Tokyo is. It wasn’t really a peak time when I went, but nonetheless there were a lot of people waiting for the green man.

On to Yebisu Brewery. Yebisu (Oddly, it is pronounced without the Y; the local station, named after the beer, is called Ebisu.) is nowadays a brand of national brewers Sapporo.

I sampled one of their specials, called Foggy Ale.

Finally, to another Yona Yona Beer Works, this one is in Shinjuku.

Here I enjoyed a Barley Wine followed by a fruity IPA. Once again, the two handpumps (beer engines to American readers.) were not in use.

Tuesday 16 June

And that was it. Time to go home. Just one last beer picture, courtesy of British Airways.

Conclusions

I though I would finish with a few general items not covered so far and my thoughts on the whole experience of a month in Japan.

Language. Despite knowing about three Japanese words I had very little trouble. Customer facing staff usually speak good English, train departure boards are usually in Japanese and English and destination signs almost always display the Romanised version of place names. We did struggle in Kochi where the tram destination blinds had no western characters. Restaurant menus sometimes had an English version, if not then it was Google Translate to the rescue.

Food. I haven’t included any food pictures here, mainly because I was too busy enjoying eating everything – raw fish included. My least favourite meal was “dipping noodles” which is like ramen but the noodles come in a separate bowl and are cold. You dip them in the broth to warm them up.

Gadgetry. Japan is well known for technology so I’m not going to list lots of things here, but I did notice a couple of unexpected things in the hotels: A heated mirror in the bathroom so it doesn’t mist up after you’ve showered; and a channel on the TV that showed the status of the machines in the hotel’s laundrette!

Unexpected rules. We all know about removing ones shoes before entering the posher restaurants. What I didn’t know was a related rule applying to my shoulder bag, which was not allowed on the floor. Some places had little baskets to put the bag in, others just asked me to put it on a chair.

Paying and Prices. Cash is still king in Japan, I found plenty of places which only accepted cash and only one or two card only bars. I had a smart card to pay for local rail journeys which could also be used to pay in many shops but ironically the only way to top it up was by putting cash in a machine. Prices seemed very reasonable in general, perhaps due to the declining value of the Yen.

Litter. You almost never see any litter. And yet it is very hard to find a litter bin. I guess everyone takes their rubbish home.

To finish, I’ll just mention KitKats. These are much smaller than the ones we are used to, and come in a vast range of flavours, ranging from dark chocolate, orange, green tea, strawberry and banana to tourist-targetted ones like sake and plum wine. I tried as many as I could find.

My thanks must go to my fellow travellers who made the whole trip very enjoyable, and to John and Steven for their superb planning and organisational skills.

Monday 01 June

Right. Where were we? Oh yes, Hiroshima. A tram took us to Hiroshima Port to catch this ferry.

We passed large dockyards at Kure.

Then through a narrow strait under the Ondo Long Bridges and out among smaller islands.

Matsuyama on Shikoku Island was our destination, home to another tram system and local trains as well.

Matsuyama has become famous for steam trains which ceased operation in 1931 when the local lines were electrified. However, they were mentioned in literature, most famously in Natsumi Soestki’s 1906 novel, Botchan, so interest continued and in 2001 a diesel powered replica was constructed which runs on the city’s tram lines occasionally. Actually there are three replicas scattered around. One is in a tiny museum in a Starbucks.

The ascent to Matsuyama Castle is by cablecar or chairlift. Just as well, there was no way I was climbing up there in the warm humid weather.

Tuesday 02 June

A typhoon warning interfered with our plans today, trains were cancelled on the coastal route to our next destination so a quick re-plan was required, which saw us on this oddly decorated train. Anpanman is a children’s character, apparently more well known in Japan than Hello Kitty.

Changing trains at Tadotsu we spotted this plinthed steam engine.

A less decorated train took us on to Kochi.

Here we explored the tram system, and hunkered down for the coming typhoon.

My hotel room overlooked the tram line.

Apart from getting wet, the typhoon didn’t cause us any problems. I was startled during dinner when mobile phones all around the restaurant made a lot of beeps. It is considered very bad manners to not have your phone on silent in a restaurant, so I was surprised that Japanese customers’ phones were making the noise. It turned out to be the emergency alert system, warning everyone of the approaching typhoon. (At least, I assume that’s what it was, my message was all in Japanese!)

Wednesday 03 June

The typhoon had passed without incident and the sun was shining in the morning.

I went for stroll in the pleasant garden by the hotel before heading out for the days activities.

It was only some weeks after I arrived home that I learned that the red bridge in this garden is the famous Harimayabashi, (Bashi means bridge) the setting of a legendary love story between a monk and a local woman immortalised in Japanese folk songs and films. So that’s why the tram stop outside our hotel has that name.

A short tram ride took us to the depot where we had arranged a visit.

As well as being the operational depot for Koch’s tram network they also have a collection of “pet” trams which they had moved out into the sunshine for us.

This oddly shaped one is from Oslo.

Portugal:

Next, a ride on the longest branch of the system, which includes this bridge.

… and ends at Ino.

Next destination was the Paper Museum at Ino. An interesting exposition of the the history of the local paper-making industry. This is the raw material.

I got the chance to make some paper, putting the frame into the pulped material, draining it and turning out the sheets.

They were then pressed and dried before I was allowed to take them home.

Here’s my output, back in the UK.

Next, Kochi Castle

Not as hard a climb as some of the previous ones I’ve seen, and with a very interesting museum inside. (We had to remove our shoes to be allowed in.)

The views from the top were good.

Another Asahi product.

Thursday 04 June

One final tram ride to the station where we caught a train to take us on a scenic run across the Island and then over a long bridge back to the main Island of Honshu, and on to Okayama.

Another tram system to explore.

The tram system attracts visitors with a special tram which may look familiar to some of you. It wasn’t out to play during our visit, we found it hidden in the depot at Shiroshita.

Like many Japanese tram systems, they have a mix of modern and older trams. This relatively new one had “Japanese” woodwork seats and tables inside.

Lunchtime beer was another new one for me, Ginga Kogen, a Hefe-weizen.

Okayama Korakuen is one of Japan’s Top Three Great Gardens, AI tells me. We went to have a look. Not the raked gravel and tiny trees I expected, but a beautiful park with manicured lawns, water features and temples. A great way to relax.

More beer in the evening, two different ones from Okayama Jimoto, and then a peach one from Doppo.

Friday 05 June

The first item on the agenda today was the Tsuyama Rail Educational Museum. We rode to Tsuyama on an old diesel unit.

At the museum we found a large roundhouse filled with an great collection of historic trains.

Back at Okayama I had time to stop at the Doppo Brewery’s counter in the station for a pint of their Schwartz.

Next, a Shinkansen took us to Shizuoka.

Time for a short ride on the local Shizuoka Railway, which has 600v overhead electrification.

After dinner, a visit to a bar called Twelve, where I enjoyed a superb “Gateway: Eternal”, a locally brewed barrel-aged imperial stout with coconut and banana. 11.5% and truly gorgeous!

Saturday 06 June

We started today with a short ride on a local train to Yoshiwara where we changed to the Gakunan Railway. This is a small local electric line, originally opened as a freight railway; freight operations have ceased. It is famous because every station offers a view of Mount Fuji.

A length of the line runs through a chemical plant giving it a real industrial feel.

All freight services ended in 2012 but they still have a collection of locos at Gakunan Fujioka for us to look at (and climb on).

In the station there was a nest of swallows (swifts, martins, who knows?) Someone more knowledgable than I advises they are Pacific Swallows – Thanks John.

What about the views of the famous mountain?

It was shrouded in cloud! It’s there somewhere.

Back at Shizuoka there was time for a little side mission a couple of stops away at Mochimune. I had enjoyed last night’s beer so much I went to visit the brewery tap. The actual brewery is over the road from this modern taproom where I enjoyed a hazy pale ale called Time Slip and then a tiny glass of another of their barrel-aged imperial stouts, “Silent Dissent” is 13.5%

Next, a Shinkansen ride to Tokyo.

Did I catch a glimpse of Fuji from the train?

This evening’s beer was in a small bar in the Chiba station complex where I enjoyed a rather good “Walnut Moon” stout from Citta Brewery.

Sunday 07 June

Two trains and a bus took us to Narita Dream Farm, a very popular agriculturally themed park.

What were we doing there? A sudden fascination with dairy cows? Of course not. In one corner of the site is RASS (Rasschijin Railway Society), home to many steam trains. We spent many hours riding and photographing their operations.

The finale of the visit was a triple-headed run.

Special thanks to all the RASS team for bringing out their locos for us and making us feel very welcome.

Back to Chiba, and a chance to ride the “danglebahn”. (Danglebahn is railway enthusiasts’ slang for a suspended monorail. The original example opened in Wupperthal, Germany, in 1901.)

This evening I skipped beer and went for sake instead. Sake is a drink made from rice. It is often called rice wine but in fact the brewing process is more like beer.

The sake came in small-ish glasses (about 100ml) and there was a little card with tasting notes for each one.

We were on an all-you-can-drink deal, so a quick trip to the chiller cabinet to pour oneself another. There were about thirty to choose from – The flavours are all subtly different.

More from Japan in Part Three

My first Japanese “train” was the Tokyo Monorail which runs from Haneda Airport into Tokyo. It is a very busy line, with enough customers to justify running fast services as well as all stations ones. At the halfway point of the line loops allow the express services to overtake.

It was interesting to see the track move as the points changed.

Next, on to the trams on the Toden Arakawa line, which is unusual in having a gauge of 4ft 6in. The history of 4ft6 gauge is rather strange, it was first used by a number of railways in Scotland, but they were all eventually converted to standard gauge. It was then used for the tram network in Tokyo, of which this is the last remaining line. Some other railways around Tokyo also use this gauge because they originally had inter-running with the tram system.

On this line we discovered something which we would find is common to many tram systems in Japan; each tram has different livery and decoration. The one we rode on had traditional Japanese woodwork on the interior.

Saturday 23 May

The first day as an organised group began with a metro run to Asakusa station in Tokyo for a ride on the Limited Express Ryomo on the Tobu line to Aioi:

(Japanese place names are fairly easy to pronounce as the Romanization is entirely phonetic. However, I have to confess that my brain struggled with Aioi, tripping over a word with four vowels and no consonants. I got there eventually!)

At Aioi we switched to the Watarse Keikoku Railway, a rural branch line, where we travelled on one of their their little diesel railcars through the scenery to Tsudo.

We were here to visit the Ashio Narrow Gauge Museum to see, and ride behind, their collection of rare industrial and mining locomotives.

Our hosts at the museum were very welcoming and friendly, and I think pleased to show their trains to very interested visitors.

We strolled up the line a little way to Ashio station where some old rolling stock is kept, and we were able to have a good look around here.

Back to Aioi and a chance to photograph passing trains before heading back to Tokyo.

Sunday 24 May

Today started with an hours ride on a local train to Kumagaya where we were in plenty of time for the highlight of the day, the steam hauled Paleo Express. The train arrived hauled by a rather fine antique electric loco (Don’t tell anyone, but I would have been quite happy to ride behind this instead of the steam loco.)

Now followed a two and a half hour run behind C58-363.

There is a famous bridge where most of our group, having decided not to ride the train, were poised to photograph us passing.

At Chichibu we paused for a photo stop. (And to let a normal service train overtake us.)

At Mitsumineguchi the loco was detached and turned ready for the return service.

For the return journey we used service trains to watch the Paleo Express passing.

To get back to Ueno we used the Limited Express Chichibu, a rather stylish train.

Our reserved seats were in the front carriage from where we could see forwards over the driver’s shoulder.

Monday 25 May

Time for our first ride on a Shinkansen, from Tokyo to Nagoya.

To be honest, it’s a boring way to travel, there’s much more of interest on a slow train! Such a local train took us to the docks at Kinjo-Futo.

Here we headed for the “SCMAGLEV and Railway Park”. I wasn’t sure what to expect here, having been told it was the third largest railway museum in Japan, but what I found was a very impressive museum with lots of interesting exhibits. If this one is third, I can’t wait for numbers one and two!

This electric loco came from the UK.

A steam-powered railcar:

Here’s one of the famous “Doctor Yellow” test trains used to inspect Shinkansen tracks, wires and signals. This example retired last year.

Next, back to Nagoya and then a short ride to Kuwana, a station which has tracks with three gauges. We headed for the rarer 762mm (2ft6in) Hokusei Line.

We took a ride up the line, finding an older unit for our return journey.

Tuesday 26 May

Today, a trip by train and coach to visit the Akazawa Forest Railway Museum. The Kiso Forest Railways were extensive and carried timber as well as passengers, but closed in 1975 when trucks took over the work. In 1985 a short section of the railway was rebuilt as a museum.

We had a good look around their workshop and museum.

Unfortunately they are not allowed to operate their American steam loco, built in 1929, because of the risk of causing fires.

We went for a pleasant scenic ride through the forest on their diesel powered train. The ticket was made of wood, of course.

Wednesday 27 May

The Toyota Commemorative Museum in Nagoya is a large museum celebrating the company and its founders. The Toyota company started one hundred years ago making textile machinery, and they still do that today. In 1933 they started making cars. The first part of the museum is a fascinating and well explained story of their textile products. We were particularly impressed by the clear explanation of the exhibits (in Japanese and English) and the staff keen to demonstrate many of the machines.

Exhibits go right up to the present day, this loom was made in 2023.

Moving on to the car-making part of the business, here’s a recreation of the wooden model used to make their first product, and the bodywork it produced.

The museum doesn’t just contain the cars, it also has examples of production equipment.

Next, on to Osaka for a ride on the “Nankai Limited Express Rapi:t”. This rather daft-looking train provides an expensive service to the airport. From the transport point of view it’s cheaper and only slightly slower to get a “normal” train, but this one is great fun to look at.

Thursday 28 May

Kyoto Railway Museum today. Wow!

Short train rides were on offer, powered by steam loco C56-160.

The workshops here had just finished refurbishing this loco, and it was on test. Testing consisted of thrashing it up and down the yard. Repeatedly!

What a wonderful museum. I’ve just shown a tiny fraction of the pictures I took.

Next, off to Hiroshima. Part way by Shinkansen before switching to “ordinary” trains for a more scenic route via Itozaki.

Regular readers of these pages my have noticed an apparent omission so far in this report. Yes, I haven’t mentioned any beer yet.

So, in Hiroshima I found a bar which according to Google offered craft beer. It didn’t really, being targetted at Gin and cocktails, but I did enjoy this Gargery Stout from Beerstyle21 in Tokyo. The glass is a peculiar shape with a round bottom, you have to put it in the supplied stand.

Friday 29 May

A fairly prompt start, this morning, in order to reach the Atomic Bomb Dome at 08:15. A moving memorial in an understated way, I thought.

The Peace Memorial Park includes a cenotaph, a Peace Flame and a pond.

I found the Peace Memorial Museum at the end of the park to be a very poignant and at times affecting experience. It was very busy (I’m told it always is.) with crowds of tourists and schoolchildren shuffling through the displays in respectful silence.

On to something more cheerful, albeit equally tourist-packed. A long tram ride (About an hour) carried us to Miyajima-guchi station from where a ferry took us on the short crossing to Miyajima Island.

The island is a tourist destination famous for the Itsukushima Shrine and its “floating” gate.

The island is populated by tame wild deer which roam the streets.

Away from the built up area the island is a pleasant place for a walk, although it was a bit hot today.

We joined the lengthy queues to ride two cable cars up the mountain.

I was a little miffed to discover that the rides only took us so far, and it was another 100m up to reach the summit, I decided it was too hot to climb that far! The views from where we reached were good.

Back at sea level, it was time to quench my thirst.

We headed back to Hiroshima by the quicker route, on a Sea-cat to Hiroshima Port.

From there it was a shorter tram ride back to the centre.

I finished the day with a pint of locally brewed Oyster Stout (Which contains Hiroshima oysters.) in a bar by the station.

Saturday 30 May

Another steam train today. The SL Yamaguchi is a regular steam operation between Shin Yamaguchi and Tsuwano, a distance of about 40 miles. First, we used a coach to take us to suitable photographic locations, starting at a photogenic paddy field.

On to a couple of other photo spots.

At Tsuwano we could watch the loco shunting and being turned and serviced before we headed back to Shin Yamaguchi on the train.

Beer? With my lunch I had a can of The Bitter-ist, and then on the steam train they had bottles of a Weizen from Yamaguchi Beer.

Sunday 31 May

Back to Hiroshima today, starting with a scenic coastal ride in one of these Class 115 EMUs which date from 1963, I think. (My Japanese railway stock book is entirely in Japanese so it’s hard to be sure!)

A last glimpse of the steam loco being prepared for today’s run.

On this run I took a couple of random pictures out of the window to give an idea of what Japan looks like.

Hiroshima has a lot of trams (See above) but only one metro line and it is a rubber tyred system, underground in the city but mostly on viaducts.

The Transportation Museum here is a small place mainly aimed at children but it does have a tram to look at as well as umpteen models of trains, trams, ships and aircraft.

My final destination today was Hiroshima Castle.

That’s enough tourism for today. I headed for the Ginza Lion Beer Hall in Hiroshima station where I enjoyed a Yebisu Premium Black – a sweet Schwartzbier, then Sapporo’s Edelpils, and finally a half-and-half of Yebisu and Yebisu Black.

(I also enjoyed some deep fried oysters and a beef stew.)

More from Japan in Part Two

An opportunity to visit a number of London Underground locations in the Earl’s Court area arose, so naturally I jumped at the chance.

On the platforms at Earl’s Court the historic departure boards have been restored and are back in use:

The subway connecting the station to the Exhibition Centre has been disused since the Exhibition Centre was closed and demolished, but we were able to walk along it and climb the escalators at the far end:

Our next objective was the top floor of the current western entrance to the station. This was added to the building in the 1960s:

Inside is (or was) the control room for the District and Piccadilly lines:

Almost all of the lines formerly controlled from here have moved on to more modern systems (4LM for the District and PICU for the Piccadilly) hence the signs marking them as out of use.

At the time of our visit one short length of the District line was still being controlled from here with one member of staff on duty. I believe that has since ceased and the place is officially closed.

Where next?

Ashfield House is TfL’s training centre where we had a good look round. Starting with a model railway used to train signallers:

Some nifty computer technology makes the trains run in accordance with the signals – There are different types of signal cabin equipment for the trainees to learn on. We had lots of fun trying to run a service, made difficult by a points failure at Hammersmith Bridge.

On a different floor of the complex is West Ashfield station which is used to teach station staff.

Just down the road from Ashfield House is Lillie Bridge depot, we went there next. Built in 1871 for the District Railway, it was later used for Piccadilly line trains, and then went on to become the depot for engineering trains. This work has now moved away and currently the sidings are used to stable District trains overnight. The depot is expected to close soon, so today was a good opportunity to have a look round.

My thanks go to Adam Turner of the Branch Line Society and Joe Brown of Transport for London for organising these wonderful visits.

Everyone knows the Forth Rail Bridge. This spectacular engineering marvel was opened in 1890, and I have travelled to the area before to admire it from below.

But today I got the chance to see a rather different view, thanks to Network Rail, Balfour Beatty and Barnardo’s. I arrived in plenty of time and was able to watch the tiny lift cabin bringing visitors down.

Soon, it was my turn.

There was a definite vibration when a train passed over.

North Queensferry station, in the distance:

Hang on, don’t those beams look a little bent and twisted?

My stay at the top was over all too quickly and it was time to ride down in the lift and catch my breath.

My thanks to the many people involved in this charitable project which has allowed thousands of visitors to enjoy this wonderful experience while raising a lot of money.

Some stats about the bridge: It is 2,467 metres long. The top, where I was, is 110 metres above the high water mark. The bridge was built from 53,000 tonnes of steel and about 6.5 million rivets. About 200 trains cross every day.

Mail Rail

The Post Office Railway was an underground railway for carrying letters and parcels linking sorting offices and railway stations in London. It opened in 1927 and closed in 2003. In 2017 a museum was opened which offered rides along a small part of the complex network of tunnels, and in 2022 I finally got round to visiting and riding, an excellent attraction. I don’t seem to have recorded that visit here, probably because the pictures were not very good.

So why am I back here again? Well, on certain evenings after the last rides they offer guided walking tours in the tunnels. Never one to miss the opportunity of an underground stroll in an unusual location I booked. We spent about an hour or so wandering around, with lots of opportunities for a closer look at everything than one gets from the train. Our guide had lots of fascinating information and stories to tell us.

One of the tunnels has been modified with raised track for the maintenance of the new passenger trains. This is the only change that has been permitted underground, as we were told the whole system is listed.

So, highly recommended, and you must come for the “normal” ride and the fine museum as well.

The Musical Museum

Despite its name this is not a museum about musicals, nor a museum about music. What it covers is the reproduction and production of music, from music boxes, through player pianos and gramophones right up to modern synthesisers. I visited for a look round and a fascinating guided tour which included many chances to listen to the instruments. I’ll try and string the pictures in a logical order, so let’s start with music boxes. These go back as far as the 18th Century.

This one uses a disc instead of the more common cylinder.

Swiss watchmakers made them really small, this one is about the size of a box of matches:

Player pianos and related instruments use a punched roll of paper to control the instrument.

Not just pianos, this one has a piano in the back and a violin at the front.

And this one, made in Austria if I recall correctly, has multiple violins. It is currently under repair:

Moving on to various phonographs, they have lots but the only decent picture I got was of this Edison cylinder machine. They even have a working 78rpm jukebox.

Finally, a spectacular collection of synthesisers, where I learned which models were used for which famous records.

(The one with the all-chrome keyboard, impossible to play on stage I should think, was created for marketing purposes only.)

Finally, upstairs they’ve got a real “mighty Wurlitzer” which comes up out of the stage, and we were treated to a demonstration of the various sound effects and then a performance.

Once again I must highly recommend this fascinating museum. I was a little saddened that they didn’t seem to have many visitors on a Sunday morning. If you’ve got any interest in musical reproduction and gadgetry, give them a visit.

The Shard

On a bright sunny day I paid a visit to the viewing gallery on the 69th floor of the tallest building in the UK. Needless to say there were excellent views over London. Here’s a small selection.

They’ve got a bar up there so I was even able to enjoy a (very expensive) beer as well as the sights.

Lord’s

On another sunny day I took a tour of Lord’s Cricket Ground, the home of cricket. We started in the oldest sports museum in the world where the many interesting exhibits include the ashes urn.

On to the pavilion and the famous long room:

View of the ground from the long room:

Upstairs, the England changing room is rather spartan, no lockers, showers and the like. Having sat down while the guide told us various fascinating stories and pointed out details, I was pleased to learn I was sitting in Jonny Bairstow’s chair!

There is a tiny players’ balcony outside the changing room.

From the bottom of one of the stands we could admire the grass and get a view of the pavilion. Needless to say they wouldn’t let us actually step onto the field.

Finally, the media centre.

The writers have an excellent view. We didn’t go upstairs where the TV and most importantly Test Match Special come from. Incidentally, the TMS studio has the only opening window, the BBC insisted on it.

I was surprised to learn that English visitors are rare on the tours here, on my tour everyone else was from abroad, South Africa, India and Australia. For the umpteenth time in this blog entry I’m going to say highly recommended.

Pubs

I couldn’t wander around London without visiting some pubs, here’s a couple of gems, the Bricklayer’s Arms in Putney and the Lamb & Flag, Covent Garden.

Monday 15 April – Space Center Houston

I visited this very popular science museum which has enough exhibits to occupy a whole day.

A highlight of the whole holiday for me was a visit to the Apollo Mission Control which has been restored beautifully. They ran replays on the screens of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the “one small step”, and finally the splashdown.

Another important exhibit is a Saturn V rocket. This one is made of unused parts from the cancelled Apollo 18, 19 and 20 missions.

The massive rocket was displayed in the open air for many years and suffered severe corrosion damage until 2000 when they built this shed and did a lot of restoration work. You can see below a piece of corroded metalwork which was replaced. I suppose when you’re designing a single-use disposable rocket, long term weather resistance is not a high priority!

Next, the space shuttle and Boeing 747. The shuttle here is a never flown mockup used for astronaut training, the 747 is the one actually used for test flights and for transporting shuttles between landing and launch sites. (And also for the European goodwill tour when I saw it fly over Altrincham back in 1983.) I could go inside both the shuttle and the jumbo.

Inside the cargo bay:

Finally, a SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage reusable rocket which was used for two missions before being retired:

This is one of the landing legs:

Tuesday 16 April

Houston’s 1940 Air Terminal is exactly what it says. A new terminal was built on the other side of the Airport in 1955 after which use of the art deco terminal built in 1940 declined and it was eventually abandoned. Fortunately it was not demolished and has been saved for preservation.

Unfortunately there is only one staircase so fire regulations prevent public access upstairs. I’m sure a visit to the control tower would enhance the visitor experience. Inside the building is an interesting collection of airline memorabilia going back over seventy years, and outside on the apron they have a Lockheed Lodestar, a contemporary of the more well known Douglas DC-3:

In downtown Dallas there were more trams to ride:

Wednesday 17 April

While studying the internet to plan the next leg of my Texan travels I came across the small town of Wharton and its 20th Century Technology Museum. Here I found an amazing collection of all sorts of 20th century technology:

Also in the same building is the Wharton County Historical Museum. Less interesting to me personally but still a very good collection covering the history of the area from the Mexican war onwards. The museums were originally created as the result of the philanthropy of a local oil magnate; one room displays the trophies from a three year round the world hunting trip he went on. Here’s just one wall:

Thursday 18 April

The San Antonio River Walk is a section of the San Antonio river where it passes through the city. Both sides of the river have been converted to walkways, and various flower beds and art installations have been added.

The authorities put a lot of effort into maintaining the river walk, I saw this boat “trawling” for rubbish:

The main reason for tourists to come to San Antonio is, of course, the Alamo:

Quite a bit of construction work was under way here, with parts of the site inaccessible:

Next, the Tower Of The Americas for some good views of the city:

Friday 19 April

The cave system at Natural Bridge Caverns was only discovered in the early 1960s. It soon became a tourist attraction. I went for a tour of beautiful caves and passageways, just a small part of the system:

Here is the natural bridge after which the caverns are named, and below it the entrance to the caves:

Saturday 20 April

The Texas Steam Train Association operate excursion trains along a line north of Austin. They don’t actually have an operational steam engine at the moment, so my ride on the Hill Country Flyer was powered by a relatively modern diesel:

At the far end is the little town of Burnet where the passengers scattered in search of lunch or shopping. I failed to find an open bar but had some traditional Texas barbecue (and a beer) at Warehouse BBQ:

Sunday 21 April

Austin is the state capital of Texas, and the capitol building is well worth a visit. After passing through security you are free to wander around this impressive building, which is still very much in use by the state government.

The Supreme Court of Texas:

The hinges on the door to the supreme court:

The House of Representatives:

Monday 22 April

As my holiday drew to a close it occurred to me that I had seen lots of America’s long freight trains but I hadn’t taken many pictures of them, so I called in to Saginaw Rail Park in Fort Worth to do a bit of train watching. Only two trains passed while I was there, the first one had five locos:

And with that, five weeks of holiday drew to a close. My time in the USA has been very enjoyable, but I think I need a rest now!

Here are some statistics for the 38 day holiday:

• Rail miles: 3,195
• Road miles: 1,128
• Photographs taken: 900
• Bars visited: 56

If you would like to see details of all the bars and breweries I visited in Texas, click here.

Denton

The base for the Texas part of my holiday was the pleasant town of Denton located about 40 miles north of Dallas.

Denton’s oldest house:

Denton has its own rail line, the “A-Train” is a little diesel service that runs 20 miles to connect with Dallas’ light rail.

Monday 08 April

On this momentous day we headed to Carrollton, another small town in the Dallas area, where we joined the eclipse party at Three Nations Brewing.

The weather, a solid grey overcast at one point, cleared and we sat in bright intermittent sunshine as first contact arrived. Was the weather going to be kind?

It got darker and darker, and then came the eclipse, to a chorus of gasps and cheers.

Eclipse picture by Howard R Wheeler on Unsplash

Yes, we saw it all, diamond ring, prominences, Venus and Jupiter and finally after what seemed like ages but was actually four minutes, another diamond ring and the sun was back, gradually getting brighter again.

I can’t find the words to describe this amazing experience. Now I understand what all the eclipse chasers I met on the train from Los Angeles were talking about. Egypt 2027 anyone?

Wednesday 10 April

One can’t visit Dallas without seeing the site of the Kennedy assassination. The museum was quite interesting, with lots of stuff about the man himself, the assassination and subsequent events. Possibly due to the Eclipse bringing in lots of visitors, it was ticket holders only today. Fortunately we had booked on the website yesterday.

Visitors can look out from close to the actual window on the sixth floor. If you look carefully in this picture you can see an X painted on the road.

Outside, you can see the grassy knoll. I was a little disappointed to see a stream of Americans dodging the traffic to be photographed laughing and waving, posing on the X.

Time to take the light rail towards home.

Thursday 11 April

The next part of the holiday was an extensive exploration of Texas.

The pleasant town of Palestine, TX has some good looking old houses and an impressive county court building:

Friday 12 April

The Texas State Railroad is a heritage railway that runs excursions for twenty-five miles between Palestine and Rusk. The railway was originally built by the state using prison labour in order to transport iron ore to a smelter also operated by prisoners.

Today’s trip was powered by number 400, a 2-8-0 built by Baldwin and dating from 1917.

They have a number of other locos including this beautiful pair of FP9As:

I had booked for the open-air coach, it was lucky the rain of a couple of days ago had cleared.

Also in the train was this beautiful dome car, I’m guessing it dates from the 1940s:

The far end, at Rusk, is too far from the town for a visit so just a pleasant place for a picnic before rejoining the train. The station here, and the one at Palestine, were constructed for the tourist train operation.

Saturday 13 April

On the move again, towards Houston, I called in at the little railway museum at Rosenberg:

On arrival at Houston I was rather excited to see that the view from my motel room included the tail fin of a space shuttle!

Sunday 14 April

The Galveston Railroad Museum has a very impressive collection and is located in the former Santa Fe station on Galveston Island.

Amongst the indoor exhibits is an amazing collection of railway crockery and glassware, here’s just a small sample:

I took a short ride on the end platform of this caboose hauled by a diesel shunter made in 1958:

Galveston is a town in two parts, first there is Historic Downtown, a tourist trap for passengers from the cruise liners that dock nearby. (There were two there today.) It is full of shops and bars, frustratingly I drove here so no pub crawl.

Then a short tram ride away (It’s a diesel powered modern replica.) is the beach, a proper seaside place in the style of Blackpool. Needless to say, I had fish and chips for lunch here, although in an attempt to stay local I actually had catfish and chips, which was very good.

In between the beach and downtown I saw lots of attractive buildings:

This imposing building with a rather brutal exterior is the Post Office and Courthouse and was built in 1937:

More from Texas in Part Two…

My USA excursion continued in Los Angeles:

Saturday 30 March

The weather was cold and wet this morning as I started just round the corner from my hotel, at the Angels Flight funicular. There didn’t seem to be much of interest at the top, I couldn’t really see any reason for its existence. Perhaps it would be more attractive if the rain stopped!

I dodged the weather with a short trip on the metro and then a long tram ride to Santa Monica.

When I arrived the rain had finished so I took a stroll onto the famous pier which marks the symbolic end of Route 66.

In the cold weather no one was on the beach:

With the weather slightly improving, I headed back to Los Angeles and the place everyone has to visit, Hollywood Boulevard. The stars in the pavement go on for miles (literally) so here’s just one picture of a random sample:

This star will become more relevant later in the holiday:

I noticed the underground station at Hollywood and Vine has a ceiling decorated with film spools:

Sunday 31 March

Another long tram ride saw me in a cold and wet Long Beach, where I quickly headed for the shelter of the Queen Mary. The art deco glory of this museum/hotel/tourist attraction has been beautifully restored, and I took a fascinating guided tour:

Monday 01 April

On a much sunnier day I headed out to La Brea to visit the tar pits, an interesting museum and park. The pits there now are the result of asphalt extraction a hundred years ago, and are mostly full of dirty oily water with the occasional bubble of gas breaking the surface.

The pits have been and still are a great source of fossils of the many animals that became trapped in the tar. To give an idea of the quantity of fossils recovered, this wall in the museum displays about 500 wolf skulls. The wolves fed on other trapped animals but occasionally got stuck themselves.

In my continuing search for breweries (See my pub blog here.) I next caught the metro and then a tram to Chinatown, where I particularly liked the Chinese-style station:

Tuesday 02 April

An early start found me back at the beautiful Union Station for another Amtrak train ride, on the Pacific Surfliner to San Diego.

The Santa Fe station at San Diego is also beautiful:

My main target in San Diego was the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier commissioned in 1945 and decommissioned in 1992. In its new role as a museum it welcomes more than a million visitors a year.

I can only show a few of the many aircraft and other exhibits from the massive collection here:

The ship was equipped with all sorts of radio equipment:

Air traffic control:

Pilots briefing room:

Having spent a large amount of time in this really good museum, I moved on to the nearby maritime museum. Unusually, the small exhibits are displayed on one floor of Berkeley, a former San Francisco steam ferry dating from 1898:

Moored around the Berkeley are a collection of historic vessels, all of which you can board and explore.

The museum also provides trips around the bay on this 110 year old pilot boat:

There is lots to see on the trip:

Wednesday 03 April

For my last day in Los Angeles I headed up to the Griffith Observatory, found on Mount Hollywood, a very popular place to view the most famous sign in the world:

There are also good views over Los Angeles from here:

The observatory itself is well worth a visit. Built in the 1930s it is an impressive building and contains lots of interesting exhibits as well as a planetarium. On a sunny Wednesday during school holidays it was very busy.

A brief mention of the rather good cafe here, which had a method of operation I’d not seen before: You serve your own food – I had chilli and rice – and at the till you pay for it by weight.

Next, a rather longer train journey. I left Los Angeles Union Station at 22:00 on the Texas Eagle for a 38 hour, 1,700 mile trip to Fort Worth.

Dawn saw us in Arizona:

A chance to photograph the locos at Tucson, AZ:

Approaching El Paso, TX, we could see “Trump’s fence”:

At El Paso I texted my brother who was meeting me in Fort Worth to say “I must be nearly there because I’m in Texas”. Of course, there was another twenty-four hours of travel to go! The pause here was a chance to view the station building, and watch a very long freight train overtake us – The picture shows two locos in the middle of the train.

Trains at El Paso are met by Juanita the “Burrito Lady” who has been selling her food here for many years. She was even mentioned on the train announcements as we approached. I had a very tasty beef and bean burrito and a bottle of pop for only $5.

The next day we paused at Temple, TX for another photo opportunity, note that we had a different loco and some different carriages after shunting at San Antonio. They have a small collection of historic trains here:

My holiday continues in Texas …

There now follows a series of blog entries documenting my trip to the USA. If you want to read about the bars and breweries I visited, they are to be found my Pub Blog at https://merseypub.blogspot.com/2024/03/san-francisco.html

I started my time in San Francisco with a surprise in the hotel lift where I found an Earthquake button:

I’m not sure whether this would light up to tell me there’s an earthquake, or I was supposed to press it if I felt the earth move!

A quick survey outside showed some of the types of transport available here:

More of those later.

Friday 22 March

My first excursion started at the Ferry Terminal, hard to photograph with all the street furniture:

… From where a ferry took me across the Bay, under the Bay Bridge to a stop called Alameda Seaplane:

This was a navy seaplane base in the past, but there are no seaplanes here now. I came to visit the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, now a museum:

Launched in 1943, USS Hornet was involved in the Japanese, Korean and Vietnam wars, and played a role in the Apollo missions, recovering the Apollo 11 and 12 astronauts after splashdown.

Here’s just a selection of the interesting exhibits:

This is a quarantine caravan in which the Apollo astronauts spent weeks of isolation, accompanied by a doctor. A caravan was used so that it could be moved from the ship to a NASA location while the quarantine continued:

Saturday 23 March

Today, a trip to Sacramento. This started with a ride on the BART (San Francisco’s underground) to Richmond:

And then on Amtrak’s California Zephyr for just a short part of its long journey all the way to Chicago. Here it is after arrival at Sacramento:

I was here to visit the California State Railroad Museum:

I took a short ride on their “excursion train”, a set of carriages dating from the 1920s hauled by a small diesel from 1939, for a pleasant trundle along the river:

I headed back to the imposing station for a local train back to San Francisco:

Sunday 24 March

A slight panic on Saturday evening when I was making plans for later in the week and learned that the heritage tram service was to be suspended for roadworks. Luckily it was not too late so I began today with a ride. Line F is a normal part of the public transport system, used by commuters and tourists alike, but it is operated exclusively by these beautiful heritage streetcars. I have always had a special fondness for these “PCC” trams which date from the 1930s, 40s and 50s, so the chance to ride on them is always good, especially on a “normal” public service.

Next, a more modern tram on the N Line carried me to the Caltrain station where I could observe operations before riding a diesel hauled service to Mountain View.

The line from here to San Jose which I first travelled on way back in 1981 is in the process of electrification. I saw a diesel shunter (switcher to Americans) moving one of the new units:

Today’s objective was the Computer History Museum. A few pictures can’t do justice to this brilliant museum:

This IBM 1401 from 1959 is in full working order and is demonstrated regularly, although sadly not on the day I visited:

Having returned to San Francisco I took a picture of one of the driverless taxis that run around the city. It’s really odd to see a car driving with no one in the front, I was disappointed not to be able to arrange a ride in one:

Monday 25 March

I started at Pier 39 for a quick visit to the famous (so the sign says) sea lions which have taken up residence there:

There are a few obvious tourist attractions in San Francisco that everyone has to visit and today was the day for me so I headed to Pier 33 to board a ferry to Alcatraz:

Once on the island one is able to wander around the various fascinating buildings and exhibits:

Once back on the mainland a short bus ride took me to the Golden Gate Bridge, the next of the must-do attractions. I walked nearly half way across and then gave up because it was very windy:

Here’s a sample of the support cables:

Tuesday 26 March

Today, Muir Woods. This national park is a redwood forest just twelve miles from San Francisco. A very popular destination for locals and tourists, you have to book in advance if you want to visit. I enjoyed a chance to wander amongst the enormous trees. It’s very hard to convey the size in a photograph, but I’ll try:

On to the pleasant waterside town of Sausalito for a ferry back to San Francisco:

Wednesday 27 March

Firstly, a little shopping trip found me in an industrial area where I came across this car park full of Waymo driverless cars:

Next I took a trip to Oakland Airport to check out the unusual cable-powered extension to the BART network. This fascinating line has rubber tyred cars which grip and release the cable in order to pass over junctions. They also stop at the midpoint of the line to switch to a different cable.

Back in San Francisco, time for a ride on a somewhat older cable-powered transit system, the iconic cable cars:

There is a small museum at the winding house from where all the cables are driven.

Wandering in search of cask ale (See my pub blog here for details.) I passed through the Haight area where there some attractive old houses:

Thursday 28 March

Hiller Aviation Museum is located a few miles south of San Francisco and is well worth a visit:

I was very pleased to have the chance to sit in the captain’s seat of a 747:

I climbed up to Twin Peaks for great views of the city:

The hill lines up exactly with Market Street which you can see along all the way to the Ferry Terminal:

This is the other one of the twins. I decided it was too much effort to climb both:

For my final bit of tourism in San Francisco I went to Civic Centre, where there is a collection of imposing buildings including City Hall, The Supreme Court of California, and the Federal Building.

Friday 29 March

Time to leave San Francisco and head south on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight which had already been travelling for twenty-four hours all the way from Seattle when I boarded it with another twelve hours to go, to Los Angeles.

Here it is at San Luis Obispo:

The holiday continues in Los Angeles…